Onnoghen: Oil Sector Beneficiary of Judiciary’s Impartiality

Chineme Okafor in Abuja

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, on Monday said Nigeria’s oil sector has enjoyed relative stability in its operations largely because of the impartial position of the country’s judiciary on issues which concern it.

Onnoghen said that several times, the judiciary has had to step in to interpret the country’s relevant laws as they relate to the sector, thus ensuring that peace and stability of operations were maintained in it.

The CJN said this at a workshop organised in Abuja by the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) to enhance the understanding and legal commitments of judicial officers in Nigeria to the oil and gas sector.

He also stated that new changes and reforms in the oil sector would impact on the quality of judicial commitment to the sector, hence, the need to have judicial officers trained on how to handle the new challenges.

“It is on record my lords, that timely intervention of the courts at critical points in this country has certainly contributed in no small measure to the peace and stability in the country today. I make bold to say, without any fear of contradiction, that the Nigerian judiciary is a key partner in ensuring stability in the oil and gas sector by interpretation of the relevant laws in the industry,” he said.

Details later…